Public trust and confidence in the Scottish charity sector has risen for over 35s, but declined amongst younger age groups, according to a new survey on public and charity perspectives from OSCR.

Some 1,039 Scots ranging from age 16-65+ were quizzed on the Scottish charity sector by OSCR.

It found trust in the charity sector on a rating of 1 to 10 was on average 6.6, the same figure in 2009.

However, while over-35s trusted the charity sector more compared with last year, younger age groups trusted it less.

Further, while just over half (56 per cent) of the Scottish general public stated they had a ‘little interest’ in charities, the population group whose level of interest in charities has decreased significantly was the younger 16-34 age group. 

The demographic group must likely to be interested in charities were females aged 45-54.

The survey also found 86 per cent of the general public had given either time, goods or money to charity in the last year, down slightly on the 89 per cent reported in the 2009 report.

The most popular form of involvement with charities was donating money (74 per cent), while only 17 per cent had given time.

Meanwhile, a survey of around 400 charity trustees found they rated OSCR highly, with 86 per cent stating that OSCR fulfilled its ongoing monitoring of Scottish charities ‘very well’ or ‘quite well’